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WHO WE ARE

Victor Paul Borg

Originally trained as an ecologist and veterinarian, Victor has been involved with nature and wildlife since his teens when we was active in European conservation groups – he was at one point a conservation officer for Birdlife (an NGO); he also ran a wild bird hospital and worked on various conservation projects in Europe. At the same time, Victor began writing and taking pictures, which he has been doing for close to twenty years. His writing and photography – mostly about the geography of travel – has been published in some of the world’s top publications. He has lived in five countries on three continents, and he has spent the last decade in Asia. Lust and stamina for adventure, and passion for nature and culture, shows in his work: he has travelled to many Asian frontiers and bedded down with remote clans. Victor has also acted as a tourism project consultant on various projects ranging from project-planning done for a diving association, and being general advisor and media consultants for the development of an upscale boutique hotel. In recent years, Victor has expanding his travels in north Asia from his base in western China. He is the creative force behind Pepper Mountains, creating virtually all the tours and leading some of them, and taking all the pictures and writing all the content for this website.

Al Linsangan III

After studying at university, native Calamianan Al Linsangan returned home and spent two years living in Coron Island with the native Tagbanua, where he served as an outreach officer in an environmental project. This stint of rugged living in the island fired him with a passion for ethnography, nature, photography and outdoor activities (later he became a licensed mountaineer and scuba diver). Later he worked with the Department of Tourism in planning sustainable tourism, and served tenure as president of the Calamianes Association of Tourism Establishments. Now he runs the only art gallery in the Calamian Islands and plays in the band Tribu Calamianen, which uses traditional instruments to produce a repertoire of tribal songs whose lyrics celebrate nature and culture. He runs Pepper Mountains tours in the Calamians, and he brings to the job the combination of background qualities (enthusiasm, local business contacts, unparalleled geographical knowledge) and studious expertise about Calamian culture, wildlife, and photographic scouting. One of his pictures garnered first prize at the prestigious Philippines Canon National Photo Contest.

Chen Yong

Native Sichuanese Chen started his working life as a full-time English teacher, but then snapped up an opportunity to work in Africa. He spent three years working in Kenya, Tanzania, and Zambia – an experience that broadened his mind, and started him on a career that has seen him trot the globe. After Africa, he returned to his home-town in Deyang and embarked on a career that has seen him juggle various jobs: he works as an interpreter, as a promoter and marketer of industrial products internationally, and he dabbles in publishing and advertising as translator-advisor-at-large for private companies and government departments. He continues to travel in his various work roles, and he's also an aficionado of model trains – his collection of model trains has expanded to the point that he constantly bickers that his house is too small (he also has to put up with complaints by his wife that his trains are taking over the house). Now he brings all these skills to Pepper Mountains, where he performs various roles and jobs.  

Han Yu Dong

Another Sichuanese, Han Yu grew up in a farmers’ family – she often recounts stories of being engrossed by snakes coiled under her bed when she was a toddler, and of cycling 20km back and forth to go to school – and she has now come a long way. She went to work in Macao and other cities in Gaungdong. She embarked on various travels throughout China, other parts of Asia and Europe, then later moved back to Sichuan. Now she joins Pepper Mountains as an administrator and coordinator, and when she is not busy she works on her oil paintings and continues to travel wildly, sometimes on Pepper Mountains trips. 

Jinghu Overseas International Travel Service

Within China, we work as part of Jinghu Overseas International Travel Service (JOINTS), a company registered in Deyang, Sichuan. JOINTS is a large company that has been running tours – and other tourism-related businesses, including an organic farm – for 15 years, and this gives us operational strength in terms of solid logistics infrastructure (including a fleet of vehicles), legal coverage, official permits, business connections, respectability and clout. In turn we can run tours with efficiency, care, and responsibility. The bulk of JOINTS work is doing domestic and international tours for Chinese tourists, and Pepper Mountains is a new subsidiary that is run to a different beat and has its own business structure.